Meta Strives For Safe Digital Space For Minors

JAKARTA As a company that oversees various social media, Meta seeks to create a safe online space for all users, especially children under 18 years of age.

With the widespread use of social media, the problem of online-based sexual violence has also increased. Based on data from the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KemenPPA), around 1,801 people became victims of online violence.

Of the thousands of recorded cases, most of the perpetrators are friends of victims on social media. These findings show that the role of social media is so important that Meta makes various efforts to prevent unwanted things from happening on its platform.

The manager of the Indonesian Meta Policy Program, Dessy Sukandar, said that Meta approaches security through four stages, including partnerships, policies, tools and technology, as well as the right source of information.

So far, Meta has partnered with 400 organizations or institutions around the world, including SEJIWA and YLBH APIK Jakarta. In terms of policy, Meta makes Community Standards global and transparent so that they can be accessed by anyone.

“So, people who might use this platform to harm others shouldn’t be on this platform. The point is, this is also one of the most important things for us to be able to explain,” Dessy said at a talk show on Meta 2024 on Tuesday, December 10.

At Community Standards, Meta asserts violent content that should not be published on platforms, such as sexual violence, exploitation, and much more. Community Standards also discuss other rules that are permissible and should not be implemented on the platform.

Meanwhile, in terms of tools and technology, Meta is developing proactive detection technology that uses machine learning or Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based. This technology is developed to search for content, videos, and certain words related to violations.

The last approach is a source of information made specifically for teenagers or young people. This source of information is conveyed to parents and also their children such as what features are restricted and permitted to be used by minors.

In line with these rules, Dessy said that Meta also limits access to accounts of minors to certain features. Content that falls into the inappropriate category will be automatically hidden from children’s accounts.

“(The accounts of teenagers) are becoming more sensitive to control, to content that may not be comfortable for parents to see,” said Dessy. “For now, people under 18 years old, their content will be limited a bit.”

Meta also provides a variety of teen protection features on the platforms they develop, including edge alternative topics for interpolating certain content on Instagram Explore and night reminders when users use Instagram after 10 p.m.

There is also a silent mode to limit the use of platforms, advertisements that are age-appropriate, and sensitive content controls that are divided into standards and less. Especially for children under 16 years old, their account will only get less options.

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